Peter O’Toole in MY FAVORITE YEAR is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives
King Kaiser’s Comedy Cavalcade goes on in minutes. But guest star Alan Swann is exiting the building. Fast. “I’m not an actor. I’m a movie star!” he bellows in stark fear. He just found out the show is LIVE!
Directed by Richard Benjamin and inspired by incidents from comedy legend Mel Brooks’ early career, My Favorite Year is a golden age revisited, a zany, misty-eyed tribute to TV’s early days. Academy Award® winner* Peter O’Toole plays Swann. Once a swashbuckling movie idol whose face was plastered on fan magazines, Swann is now mostly plastered. And it falls to Cavalcade’s rookie writer (Mark Linn-Baker) to keep him on the sober and narrow. Don’t touch that dial.
Mark Linn-Baker makes his debut and Peter O’Toole is a delight in this tale from director Richard Benjamin inspired by producer Mel Brooks’ experiences working for Sid Caesar’s legendary Your Show of Shows. Young Benjy Stone (Baker), tyro comedy writer/production assistant on “King” Kaiser’s (Joseph Bologna) Cavalcade of Comedy TV show, is overjoyed when his childhood idol, swashbuckling screen star Alan Swann (O’Toole), gets booked as the host. But when Swann is discovered living on the dipsomaniac side of the street, King wants to sack him from the show. Desperate to defend his hero, Benjy makes a plea on his behalf. Annoyed by Benjy’s temerity, King puts Swann under Benjy’s charge with the caveat that if Swann falls off the wagon while they are rehearsing, it will cost Benjy his job. All goes almost smoothly until Swann finds out Cavalcade is broadcast live and he’s “not an actor, (he’s) a movie star!” The production’s skillful recreation of early 1950s New York, Richard Benjamin’s comedic gifts as a director throughly infused with a human touch, and one of O’Toole’s most celebrated performances effervesce as never before thanks to this intoxicating High Def Master. Special Feature: commentary by director Richard Benjamin. 16×9 Widescreen
20th Century Foxhas released a new trailer and poster for the upcoming filmTHE KING’S MAN.
As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in THE KING’S MAN.
Check Out this trailer:
As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King’s Man, directed by Matthew Vaughn, coming to theaters February 2020.
THE KING’S MAN stars Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, with Djimon Hounsou, and Charles Dance and is directed by Mathew Vaughn
GEMINI MAN is an innovative action-thriller starring Will Smith as Henry Brogan, an elite assassin who is suddenly targeted and pursued by a mysterious young operative that seemingly can predict his every move. The film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee and produced by renowned producers Jerry Bruckheimer. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger. Also starring are Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, and Benedict Wong.
GEMINI MAN opens everywhere October 11th, but lucky St. Louisans will have the opportunity to see it in advance! There is a screening Tuesday October 8th at 7pm and We Are Movie Geeks has plenty of tickets to giveaway! Just leave a message below with your email address and we’ll contact you later this week. It’s so easy!
GEMINI MAN Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, and Benedict Wong and is rated PG-13
“One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, – all the damn vampires!”
THE LOST BOYS screens this Friday and Saturday nights (October 4th and 5th) at midnight at the Tivoli Theater as part of their ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’ Midnight series. A facebook invite for this event can be found HERE.
Been feeling a bit under the weather lately? Too many late nights? Keep missing the daytime or having to wear sunglasses when you do make it up before dusk?…… How do you feel about garlic? Crosses? Stakes?
Yes, it’s vampire time again…
It may not be the scariest horror movie of the ‘80s (heck, the ridiculously over-sized 80s hairstyles and mullets on show are probably more frightening than the fangs), but twenty-five years later it’s easier to appreciate director Joel “Bat Nipples” Schumaker ‘s THE LOST BOYS as the first teen vampire movie. Boasting not just one but both of those late 1980s/early ’90s pubescent “pin-ups” called “Corey”, THE LOST BOYS was a sort of brat-packer attempt at the typical vampire/horror flick. It became a pop-culture phenomenon in 1987 thanks to its attractive young stars, offbeat soundtrack, and hip, clever marketing campaign (but it’s never explained why does Corey Haim’s character has a poster of Rob Lowe on his door!).
Recently divorced Diane Wiest moves with her two sons (Jason Patric and Haim) to the California community of Santa Carla, where teenage vampires (headed by Kiefer Sutherland) cruise the boardwalk. These ‘Lost Boys’ (there is a lost girl too, but nobody mentions her) hang from the ceiling of their lair in the ruins of an old hotel, while at night they go out seeking blood in Santa Cruz, known as the Mass Murder Capital of the World. Patric is initiated into the gang, but tries to resist his vampiric urges while his brother calls in Edgar and Alan Frog (Corey Feldman and Jamsion Newlander), gonzo teen vampire hunters from the local comic store, to battle the undead bloodsuckers.
THE LOST BOYS tagline – “Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It’s fun to be a vampire.” — perfectly captured its knowing mixture of attitude and gore. Now this weekend you can sleep all day and party all evening at THE LOST BOYS when it screens at the Tivoli in St. Louis this Friday and Saturday nights ( October 4th and 5th ) as part of the ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’ midnight show.
Here’s the upcoming Reel Late at the Tivoli Line-up
Oct. 11-12 HALLOWEEN (1978)
Oct. 18-19 and Oct. 25-26
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with live shadow cast, Samurai Electricians!
Boxing Wednesdays. Wrestling on Fridays. Stoker Thompson is on Paradise City’s Wednesday card, fighting after the main event. He’s been 20 years in the game and is sure he’s just one punch away from big paydays. But there’s one thing Stoker doesn’t yet know: his manager wants him to take a dive tonight.
The Set-Up comes out swinging as one of the great films about the so-called sweet science. Robert Wise directs, shaping real-time events into an acclaimed and unsparing film-noir look at the stale-air venues, bloodthirsty fans, ring savagery and delusional dreams of boxing’s palooka world. Robert Ryan embraces perhaps his fi nest screen hour as Stoker. Audrey Totter, an icon of the noir genre like Ryan, plays Stoker’s steadfast wife. In a sport that would take their last flicker of dignity, the Thompsons are reclaiming theirs.
Robert Wise directs film noir icons Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter in this real-time film noir boxing drama that portrays the final fight in palooka pugilist Stoker Thompson’s (Ryan) career. While Stoker’s wife Julie (Totter) implores him to give up the ring, Stoker’s simple credo of “fighters gotta fight” keeps him tied to the squared circle. But Stoker is in the dark about this particular fight – his manager has promised a gangster that Stoker will take a dive. Too bad he didn’t tell Stoker… A miracle of lean and luscious direction, all of The Set-Up’s grit and glory sparkles in this scintillating 1080p HD transfer that packs a wallop. Special Feature: commentary by director Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese.
Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland in JUDY. Photo credit: David-Hindley. Courtesy of LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions.
Renee Zellweger gives a knockout
performance as the legendary Judy Garland, in a biopic set in her
later years. as the star struggles to make a living, battles
alcoholism and self-destructive behavior and tries to keep her two
young children close. JUDY takes a sympathetic view of the star in
her twilight years, a difficult time when she was still famous enough
to draw crowds but when her voice was fading and her reputation for
unreliability made it hard to find work.
Renee Zellweger’s turn as Judy Garland
is the film’s major asset. The
film, which is based on the play “End of the Rainbow” by
Peter Quilty, is directed by Rupert Goold. Zellweger’s
outstanding performance captures Judy Garland’s personal charm,
warmth and vulnerability, the things that drew fans to her along with
her golden voice. JUDY is a film for Judy Garland fans, although it
has plenty to offer those less familiar with the legendary star, so
it takes a sympathetic view of the star but one willing to be honest
about her flaws. Few stars of the Hollywood Golden Age have endured
as legends in the minds of fans like Judy Garland. Garland’s
personal story reads like a Hollywood movie itself – a childhood in
vaudeville, the sudden fame brought by her great talent and warm
screen presence in THE WIZARD OF OZ, and her tragic decline. All it
lacked was the Hollywood ending.
JUDY touches on all that but takes a
more intimate approach, focusing only on the star in her final years,
with a few flashbacks to her time as a teenager at the MGM studio
filming THE WIZARD OF OZ. But like the excellent biopic about Laurel
and Hardy, STAN AND OLLIE, JUDY does not cover Garland’s whole life
and career, instead focuses on the poignant, tragic end, while
evoking the height of t her stardom in flashbacks. In this case, the
flashbacks especially serve as a device to give insights on the
subject herself.
Mostly, the film focuses on Garland as
a devoted mother, struggling to support and care for the children she
clearly loves, while battling her own insecurities and dependence on
alcohol and a mix of amphetamines and sleeping pills, a legacy of her
movie studio childhood. It is a heart-tugging portrait of maternal
love, made all the more poignant by the fact that it is the great
Judy Garland in this struggle.
As the film opens, Garland (Zellweger)
is on stage performing for a crowd, with her two young children,
Lorna (Bella Ramsey) and Joey (Lewin Lloyd), joining her from the
wings for a final bow. The meager pay she is given after the show
tips us off that Dorothy is a long way from Kansas at this grim point
in her career. While she is still famous and able to draw crowds,
producers have become leery of hiring her and film offers have dried
up, due to her reputation for unreliability and being difficult.
Clearly, what is keeping her going is her devotion to her children,
with whom she is close. As much as she loves them and tries to make
their childhoods fun while masking her financial distress, it is
impossible. Forced to leave them with ex-husband Sid Luft (Rufus
Sewell), Judy takes a job in London, playing an exclusive club called
Talk of the Town.
In London, she is treated like a star
once again and plays to sell-out crowds, but it is clear her demons
still haunt her, particularly alcohol and insecurity. The club’s
owner Bernard Delfont (Michael Gambon) has assigned a
minder/assistant, Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley), to keep an eye on the
star and make sure she gets on stage on time.
Garland has her troubles with that, but things start to look up, offering a ray of hope for her to restart her life and hold on to her children, her biggest priority. The young woman assigned as her minder/assistant, played winningly by the talented Jessie Buckley, also becomes a friend. There is also a touch of romance, with her budding relationship with a young producer, Mickey Deans (a charming Finn Wittrock), who would become her fifth husband. Judy met Deans at a party at the home of her older daughter Liza Minnelli’s (Gemma-Leah Devereux) shortly before she left, and she is charmed when he turns up in London.
The film is based on Garland’s actual life but this is not a documentary and some dramatic license has been taken. The bulk of the film takes place in London, during Garland’s several week run at the popular Talk of the Town nightclub. This gives the film plenty of performance sequences to help evoke her magic as a singer and star.
While JUDY takes a sympathetic approach
to Garland, it does shy away from her self-destructive ways. Still
it does offer some explanation for Garland’s addictions and
insecurities through flashbacks to Judy’s earlier years at MGM,
during the filming of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Darci Shaw plays the young
Judy, bullied by the studio about her weight and her looks. The
teenagers put on an endless round of pills, some to help her lose
weight or pep her up to keep up her grueling film and publicity
schedule, and others to help her sleep. These flashbacks are
sprinkled throughout the film, and the ones with studio head Louis B.
Mayer (a creepy Richard Cordery) are particularly chilling, as he
browbeats the teenager about her background as a vaudeville performer
from the Midwest. He offers her a choice: do everything he asks and
become a star, or choose to be a normal teenager but live out life in
obscurity. The fear he instills continues to haunt the grown Judy.
Although Zellweger has little actual
resemblance to Garland, she is transformed by excellent make up and
her stunning performance, creating so convincing an impersonation
that one feels like you are watching Judy Garland herself. Zellweger
is superb, capturing Garland’s mannerism, tone of voice and pattern
of speech, and movements with uncanny accuracy. In the dramatic
sequences, her portrayal grabs at our heartstrings and threatens to
tear our hearts out at times, so moving is this tale of a great star
brought down by times and her own weaknesses. But the film is filled
with moments of joy and triumph over those difficulties, as well as
warm human connections, where Garland’s charm and appeal. Among these
moments is a sequence with a couple of gay fans she meets by chance
after a show, a warm interlude that connects her directly with a fan
base who has long embraced her.
The stage show sequences are marvelous,
with Zellweger channeling Garland to an amazing degree. Zellweger has
sung in films before and does her own singing here. However, if there
is a shortcoming it is that as nice as Zellweger’s voice is, she does
not particularly sound like Garland even if she looks like her. One
might wish the film had used Garland’s own distinctive voice. Even
though her voice was fading at the time the film takes place, it
still had a unique sound. The troubled star’s devotion to her
children is one of the film’s most touching aspects, and one of ways
this flawed star wins our hearts. Zellweger effectively conveys all
Garland’s complicated layers, while also underlining the fickle
nature of fame and a toxic system that chews up talent. Zellweger
herself has had some rough treatment by media and the public, which
might add a little depth to her performance.
JUDY is a film for Judy Garland fans,
with a moving portrait of Judy Garland in her twilight, with all the
heartbreak that entails, and a remarkable channeling of the legend by
Renee Zellweger. It is not a perfect film but one that delivers for
those fans. JUDY opens Friday, September 27.
This film’s premise may promise many flights of fantasy and endearing whimsical humor, but what it delivers is something else entirely. A group of modern (well, the last decade) street kids must work together in a re-imagining of classic fairy tales. Sounds a bit like last year’s THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING, doesn’t it? Well, there are really few similarities, since this setting is a Mexican city turned war zone, with vicious drug runners blasting away at anyone, kids especially, that gets in their way. Can their belief in the power of those iconic stories and characters save these urchins, or will their sense of wonder lead them to their doom? Maybe they can learn to become fearless since TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID.
We meet the film’s two main characters in the pre-title scenes. Middle school student Estrella (Paola Lara) is excited by the class assignment. Using classic characters and setting (princes, castle, witches, and tigers, of course), they are to create a new “fairy tale”. Cut to the dark, dangerous streets as a boy around the same age, El Shine (Juan Ramon Lopez), observes a “thug” named Caco (Ianis Guerrero) drunkenly stumble into an alley to relieve himself. While he’s “occupied”, Shine lifts his gold-trimmed pistol and his dragon-decorated cell phone. Meanwhile, Estrella’s concentration is interrupted by gunfire just outside the classroom. The students dive from their desks onto the floor. Her teacher crawls to Estrella, giving her three pieces of chalk as she whispers “Here’s your three wishes”. Later that day Estrella walks back to her home from the now “closed indefinitely” grade school. But the apartment she shares with her Mama is empty. As the hours drag on, Estrella observes a group of boys (led by Shine) who have their own make-shift home on the roof of a nearby deserted building. The next day she catches Shine robbing her place, and follows him back to his “camp”. Shine wants nothing to do with her, but Estrella soon becomes a surrogate mother (or big sister) to the other three boys. But as they begin to bond, Caco arrives looking for his stolen items. Seems that the phone is far more valuable to him than the gun. So valuable that the children’s’ lives are in deadly danger. Can Estrella’s faith in fairy tale “magic” save them from the violence that has made their neighborhood a “ghost town”?
Director/writer Issa Lopez has crafted a very modern, hard-edged take on the old “bedtime stories”, deftly mixing elements of “magical realism” with a tough, gritty urban gangster crime thriller. One big reason this “mash-up” works is the natural performances by Ramon Lopez as Shine and Paola Lara as Estrella. They seem like real kids since they’re gifted amateurs rather than seasoned pros. Those rough edges really work, particularly for Shine who must always project strength above all else until he finally reveals his vulnerable side to Estrella. The scars on the side of his face are nothing compared to the ones around his young, battered heart. Lara may have the more complex character arc as Estrella who must adjust to street life after the sanctuary of home and school is shattered. Lopez makes this modern city feel like a decimated post-apocalyptic “dead zone” like the settings for I AM LEGEND and any number of Zombie TV shows and flicks. Life is cheap here, with no “safe space’ for women and children, with the drug-running criminals the true “monsters” of this fable, and the “law’ is no help at all. This makes the fantastical elements and effects more powerful. A stream of blood careens across floors and walls in search of the next fatality. Objects spring to life around Estrella: a bracelet becomes a flock of blackbirds, a snake and dragon slither away from a gun and a cellphone, and a beloved stuffed toy becomes a guide. And where does the toy send her? In a sequence reminiscent of the 50s EC horror comic books, the dead demand revenge, as bodies wrapped in clear plastic plead for justice. Really heart-breaking, but still horrific, much like the Del Toro’s masterwork PAN’S LABYRINTH, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID casts a most memorable spell. But this is a fairy tale is not for the “wee ones”.
3 Out of 4
TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Marcus’ St. Charles Stadium 18 Cinema
There’s nothing actively wrong with DreamWorks’s latest, ABOMINABLE, but the end product fell far short of wowing me. After SMALLFOOT and Laika’s MISSING LINK, ABOMINABLE is the third Yeti-centered animated feature in less than a year and I felt I’d seen this all before. Our Yeti-like title character in ABOMINABLE is introduced escaping for a mysterious laboratory. The creature is next seen hiding out on apartment rooftops in Shanghai where he meets teenage Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet). Yi lives awith her mother and grandmother and has been coping with the recent death of her father by spending her spring break at a series of odd jobs, saving money to take a cross-country journey her dad had promised. Yi becomes determined to help this Yeti find his way back home to Mount Everest, a location he recognizes from a billboard. The pair are joined by Yi’s phone-obsessed neighbor Jin (Tenzing Trainor) and his hyper little cousin Peng (Albert Tsai). They’re all pursued by the rich tycoon Burnish (Eddie Izzard) and his hesitant helper, zoologist Dr. Zara (Sarah Paulson).
The animation in ABOMINABLE is eye-popping and the vocal work is professional. It moves quickly but too often I felt like I was spending time waiting for the obvious plot to follow its inevitable course. By the time it ended, I felt like I’d simply sat through a film that was marking off a checklist: misunderstood kid, misunderstood monster, an older character who’s had meaningful interaction with the beast earlier in life, chases, henchmen, and the usual bromides about friendship, the importance of family, girl power, etc. It’s all perfectly professional but predictable and lacks inspiration.
I’m not the audience for ABOMINABLE. This is a movie for smaller kids who will probably enjoy it for its colorful design and adorable characters. The computer animation offers vistas of well-known Chinese locations such as the Gobi Desert, the Yangtze Valley, and that giant Buddha statue all rendered skillfully. The best modern animated films should work for adults as well as children, but ABOMINABLE is not very funny and failed to hold my interest. Another problem is the creature design. Everest is cute and lovable enough, but so is a fuzzy plush carnival toy, which he resembles. I’m glad he didn’t speak (he sorta grunts and hums), but he lacks the magic and personality of other DreamWorks stars like Toothless or Po or just about any character from Pixar.
Glenda Jackson in A TOUCH OF CLASS is currently available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives
They thought it would be a simple fling. Instead, they got flung. Being free and easy proves neither free nor easy for already-married Steve and divorced Vickie when they fall in love.
George Segal and Glenda Jackson bring the right touch to A Touch of Class, a glossy, grown-up romantic comedy directed and cowritten by Hollywood veteran Melvin Frank (The Court Jester, Li’l Abner). At his harried best teetering between two households, Segal plays sometimes sly, sometimes fumbling Steve. As Vickie, Jackson slings verbal jabs and hotel furnishings with equal glee – and won the second of her two Best Actress Academy Awards®.* The honors for this classiest of romantic romps don’t stop there. The two leads each won Golden Globes®. And the film earned five Oscar® nominations in all, including Best Picture. All in all, it’s entertainment touched by magic.
Director Melvin Frank’s bittersweet comedy romance about an attempted illicit affair between a married American (George Segal) and a divorced Englishwoman (Glenda Jackson) proved a surprise smash hit thanks to its charm, humor and fine performances all around including Paul Sorvino and Hildegard Neil. After a chance encounter, Vickie Allesio (Jackson) and Steve Blackburn (Segal) attempt to have a tryst far from prying eyes in Málaga, but a series of mishaps and muscle spasms throw a monkey wrench into the romance. Growing closer through adversity, they decide to continue their affair back in London, but the relationship takes an unexpectedly serious turn. A Touch of Class arrives looking love-at-first-sight fresh thanks to this new HD master that shines with warmth and immediacy. 16×9 Widescreen.
Left to right: Director/Writer/Executive Producer John Krasinski, Emily Blunt and Noah Jupe on the set of A QUIET PLACE, from Paramount Pictures.
On Wednesday director/actor John Krasinski went on social media and announced that filming had wrapped on the highly anticipated follow-up to the hugely successful A QUIET PLACE.
According to Krasinski, the film is set to open March 2020. The 2018 film about “a family of four navigating their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound, threatening their survival” opened in cinemas to rave reviews.
Michael Haffner wrote, “Krasinski shows an effective hand guiding these intense scenes. There are several sequences that feel instantly iconic, but the one that shows off Krasinski’s skill the most is the centerpiece “bathtub scene.” He stitches together three separate character’s actions so precisely, layering the tension with every carefully composed shot and movement. It’s a thrilling sequence in a film that easily has at least five memorable horror setpieces – many horror films would kill to have more than one.”
A QUIET PLACE was nominated for an Oscar (SOUND EDITING), Golden Globe (BEST SCORE), BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild (EMILY BLUNT), Producers Guild and Writers Guild Award (Best Original Screenplay). The PG-13 post-apocalyptic horror film, with an estimated $17 million budget, took in an estimated $340,939,361 worldwide gross.
A QUIET PLACE II stars Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds, and adds to the cast Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou.
